Earaches, Ear Infections, Sinus Infections, Pink Eye and Styes
Part of the Infection series. This sheet adds what is special to the head. The core program (the two infection formulas, Echinacea, liver flushing and the five levels) is on the General Infection sheet. Start there, and use this sheet alongside it.
Understanding the Condition
It Is All Connected
The ears, sinuses and eyes all drain into the same place: the back of the nose and the throat. Tears drain through the tear duct into the nose. The sinuses, hollow spaces in the bones of the face, drain into the nose. The eustachian tube runs from the middle ear to the back of the nose. When that common drain is blocked with mucus and waste, everything above it backs up, and the backed-up waste is where infection takes hold.
That is why a head cold so often turns into an earache, a sinus infection or pink eye, and why the work for any of them is the same: open the drain, draw the infection out, and support the body with the core program.
The Ears
An outer-ear infection often starts from a scratch or from water left standing in the ear (swimmer’s ear). A middle-ear infection comes from a blocked eustachian tube, and can linger a long time; little ones who rub and pull at their ears are telling us something is wrong. An inner-ear infection can disturb the balance, bringing dizziness, vertigo and nausea.
The Sinuses
When mucus and waste pack into the sinuses and harden, the sinuses can no longer drain. Pressure builds behind the cheeks, eyes and forehead, the nose stops up, and infection settles in the stagnant waste. Impacted sinuses need that hard-packed waste softened and drained before they can clear.
The Eyes
Pink eye usually comes from a clogged tear duct, or an infected one. When the tears cannot flow, the eye cannot wash itself. A sty is an infected oil gland at the edge of the eyelid, a painful little boil that is the body pushing waste out through the delicate tissue of the lid. Pink eye is very contagious.
Get Yourself to the ER
If you have any of these signs, get emergency care now, and keep your herbal work going alongside it:
- Sudden eye pain with blurred or lost vision
- Red, hot swelling spreading around the eye
- An earache with a stiff neck, high fever or confusion
- A red, swollen, tender bump behind the ear
- Severe sinus pain with swelling of the forehead or around the eyes
See the When Minutes Matter box on the General Infection sheet for the signs that apply to any infection.
The Emotional Side: the Energy Work
Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together.
Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:
- Sty: looking at life through angry eyes; angry at someone. Turn it around: I choose to see everyone and everything with joy and love.
- Keratitis (inflamed eye): extreme anger; a desire to strike out at what you see. Turn it around: I let the love from my own heart heal all that I see. I choose peace.
- Eye problems: not liking what you see in your own life. Turn it around: I now create a life I love to look at.
- Pink eye (conjunctivitis): anger and frustration at what you are looking at in life. Turn it around: I see with eyes of love. There is a harmonious solution, and I accept it now.
- Eye problems in children: not wanting to see what is going on in the family. Turn it around: Harmony, joy, beauty and safety now surround this child.
- Earache (outer, middle or inner ear): anger; not wanting to hear; too much turmoil; parents arguing. Turn it around: Harmony surrounds me. I listen with love to the pleasant and the good. I am a center for love.
- Sinus problems: irritation with one person, someone close. Turn it around: I declare that peace and harmony dwell in me and surround me at all times. All is well.
Emotional patterns paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are places to look and let go.
Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing
Start the core program from the General Infection sheet at the level that fits: Herbal Aid 1 is especially good for the sinuses and the head. Keep the bowels moving with LBF, so what drains from the head has a way out of the body. Then work on the area itself.
The Ears
- Treat both ears, always, even if only one is infected.
- The Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice over both ears, applied as hot as can be tolerated, and left on overnight. Two wide sweatbands hold it in place for an adult. For a child, use an old pair of pantyhose worn like a cap, with the legs tied to hold a poultice over each ear. Make it a game; children don’t mind it at all. Most of the time one overnight application clears the infection. See the Charcoal & Flaxseed Poultice sheet for how to make it.
- Ear oil. If you have it, add 4 to 6 drops of Garlic & Mullein oil in each ear, with a cotton plug. If you don’t have it, the poultice works on its own.
Never Put Anything in a Broken Eardrum
Do not ever put anything in an ear with a ruptured or broken eardrum. It can cause horrid pain.
If fluid or pus is draining from the ear, or the pain stopped suddenly after a pop, the eardrum may be broken. Use the poultice over the outside of the ears only, and nothing inside the ear.
The Sinuses: Snuff
Snuff is a fine herbal powder of bayberry, goldenseal, garlic and a little cayenne. It liquefies the hard-packed mucus in the sinuses so it can drain out in all directions: out the nose when you blow it, and down the throat.
- Use: place a small pinch on the back of your hand. Hold one nostril closed and snort it up into the sinus through the other. Keep snorting it up until you taste the bitter goldenseal running down your throat. Then do the other side. Your nose will begin to drain; blow it as often as needed.
- How often: I have used it repeatedly in a day when my nose was clogged, with no ill effects. Let common sense tell you when to stop: once the nose is clear and open, you are pretty much done.
- Children: if a child can understand enough to copy an adult showing them how, and they need the sinuses cleared, they are old enough to use it.
- Too blocked to draw air? Open the way first. Cut up several onions and let the vapors get the eyes watering and the nose running. Or blend fresh horseradish with apple cider vinegar to the consistency of applesauce, and hold ¼ to ½ teaspoon between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. Then begin the snuff.
Snuff in a Neti Pot
For a gentler rinse, snuff can be used in a neti pot to flush the sinuses.
Water: one cup of warm, tepid water. It must be distilled water, or water boiled and cooled. Never use water straight from the tap in a neti pot.
Add: about ¼ teaspoon of plain non-iodized salt, so the water doesn’t sting, and ¼ teaspoon of snuff to start. Work up to what is needed.
How often: it depends on the issue; some do it twice a day. Let common sense guide you.
The Eyes: Eyebright and Infection Salve
- Flush both eyes with the Eyebright wash, even if only one is affected: 1 to 3 drops of Eyebright in an eyecup, topped with room-temperature distilled water. Fit the cup over the eye, tip your head back and open the eye into the wash. Expect a minute or two of sensation as the circulation floods in and recedes, carrying waste out with it. See the Eyebright sheet for full directions.
- Pink eye is often cleared in one application. The Eyebright opens the clogged tear duct and lets the tears flow again. It works very quickly.
- Styes: flush the eye with Eyebright first, to clear out any debris and speed healing. Then close the eye and apply Infection Salve over the lid. Place a gauze pad over the closed lid and cover it with an eye patch.
Pink Eye Spreads Easily
If another flush is needed, soak the eye cups in a bowl of hot soapy water with a little bleach.
When children have pink eye, keep bleach water handy and wipe anywhere little hands have touched.
As an adult, don’t touch your eyes. If you do, wash your hands before you touch anything else.
Use distilled water for all teas and eye washes, and when taking your extracts in hot water.
Level of Commitment
- Gentle support. A simple earache, a stuffy head or pink eye: the area work above, with the Basic level of the core program for a few days.
- Focused cleansing. A stubborn or recurring ear or sinus infection: the Moderate level with its liver flushing, the poultice nightly, snuff daily, and the bowels kept moving. Continue 3 to 5 days after all symptoms are gone.
- Long-standing trouble. Ear or sinus infections suppressed with antibiotics for years can surface again as the body cleans house. Don’t be discouraged; do the work again. One application isn’t always enough to pull an old infection all the way out.
A Loose Healing Plan
- At the first sign: Herbal Aid 1 in hot water with honey, Echinacea, and the core program at the level that fits.
- Ears: the poultice over both ears overnight; ear oil in both ears if you have it and the eardrum is whole.
- Sinuses: onion or horseradish if the nose is fully blocked, then snuff as often as needed, or the neti pot rinse.
- Eyes: Eyebright flush in both eyes; Infection Salve under a pad for a sty. Clean the eye cups and wipe down surfaces.
- All along: keep the bowels moving, drink plenty of fluids, and watch for the ER signs.
Stories from the Work
Dara’s Story: The Poultice and the Pantyhose
My daughter was forever getting ear infections, until another homeschooling mother taught me a trick back in 1996: a Charcoal & Flaxseed poultice, as hot as can be tolerated, over both ears, always both, even when only one is bothering the child. The trick is keeping it in place, so we used an old pair of pantyhose worn over the head like a cap, with the legs fastening a poultice over each ear. My children loved playing “boogie man” in their poultice caps. Most of the time, one overnight application is all it takes.
A Story From the Work: “My Brains Are Coming Out My Ears!”
In the early 2000s, a little girl who spent her mornings with us was facing yet another round of ear tubes. Her mother put a Charcoal & Flaxseed poultice over both of her ears while she did her schoolwork. Before long she came running in tears: “Mommy, Mommy, my brains are coming out my ears!” Her shoulder was soaked with fluid being drawn out of her inner ear. She never needed the tubes, and her days of ear infections were over for good.
Dara’s Story: The Bottle She Wouldn’t Let Go Of
Around 2003 my book editor came to our editing meeting with a burning case of pink eye she had caught from her little girl. I took her upstairs and flushed her eye with the Eyebright wash; the discomfort eased almost immediately. When I offered to send her home with a fresh bottle, she wouldn’t hear of it. She paid me right there for the half-used bottle, and held onto it through the whole rest of the meeting.
Dara’s Story: Cutting an Onion
When I can’t breathe through my nose, my own fix is simple: I cut an onion until my eyes water and my nose runs. That opens my sinuses enough to snort up the snuff. Once it hits, it melts the blocked-up mucus loose, and it runs right out my nose and down my throat.
More on the Ears, Sinuses & Eyes
- Infection: The Core Program
- An Herbal Eyewash for Tired, Irritated Eyes
- Impacted or Inflamed Sinuses
- Ear Drops for Hearing, Balance and Earache
- A Simple Drawing Poultice: Charcoal and Flaxseed
- A Salve for Stings, Bites and Hot, Inflamed Sores
This information is for education only. It is not meant to diagnose, treat or replace care from a qualified health professional.
